Ep 53 - University Coaching Perspective with Caitlin Hamilton

In today's episode, we're diving deep into the world of college coaching, and we have a very special guest with us – Caitlin Hamilton, the newly appointed Associate Head Coach at the University of Kentucky.

Discover the secrets behind the scenes of college sports, and gain a fresh perspective on what it takes to lead a successful collegiate program. Don't miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the world of college coaching – tune in now!

Transcript

00:00:03 - Introduction

This is the Your Sports Resource Podcast, where each week you'll learn actionable strategies that you can implement so the operations of your club support your coaching staff and the direction of your organization. We are committed to excellence in youth sports leadership. Let's get started.

00:00:26 - Matt

Hello, and welcome to the Your Sports Resource podcast. I'm Matt Bos, and today we're going to get a little perspective from a college coaching and I'm very excited that we will be joined by newly hired associate head coach at the University of Kentucky, Caitlin Hamilton. Caitlin, welcome.

00:00:47 - Caitlin

Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

00:00:49 - Matt

We're excited to have you. As I said, Caitlin has recently been hired as the associate head coach at the University of Kentucky. This is coming off of her prior appointment as the head coach at Illinois State University, where you were there for four years, right?

00:01:11

Kind of a little bit of a spoiler alert. I'm going to kind of just throw that out there. Now that Caitlin and I have a history together, as she was somebody I had hired when I was the head coach at IUPUI as an assistant coach. So, she spent two years at IUPUI with Me, and then two years in Bloomington at Indiana University following is that correct?

00:01:33 - Caitlin

Two full seasons at IU.

00:01:36 - Matt

Yeah. So that was in between IUPUI and getting hired as the head coach at Illinois State. So yeah. So, Caitlin, I think you may be the first college coach we've had on the podcast, so this is going to be good. And I think it's a good opportunity for us here to kind of dive a little bit deeper into a college program. We do a lot of stuff with clubs.

 00:02:05

We've talked to some clubs. We put out a lot of content that I think is relevant to clubs, and I think it's good to touch on the college end, and I think it's something that people maybe, as far as understanding what the role of a college coach is, their administrative duties. Right.

00:02:23

How you're working with your athletes, what's the difference? We've kind of gone over that list of programs as far as different size programs, that there's going to be some differences. Right.

00:02:33

So, this will be fun, and I'm hoping that this could potentially help some of our club and high school coaches or board members listening to maybe take some stuff, too, from what we're talking about and usable into their situation. 

00:02:53

Maybe. Let's start. You've had this experience in different-sized universities. But if you could just give a quick rundown, maybe, of what are the duties of a college coach and a college coaching staff.

00:03:13 - Caitlin

So, I've been on a variety of size programs combined, women's only, and at each spot we've been at, the size of the staff has also been very different. I mean, we were combined at IUPUI, but sometimes we were only functioning with two coaches, and sometimes we had three.

00:03:31

And it was kind of this carousel of people coming in and out, just with the reality of where we were and the size of program we were. So, I felt like in one of those types of roles, or when I was a head coach at Illinois State when I was really relying on one assistant, I did everything, a little bit of everything.

00:03:48

And swimming was such a small piece of that at some points in time. But for my day-to-day right now as an associate, it's a lot of recruiting, it's a lot of meeting with individuals. Whether that's our support staff on the athletic training, nutrition, strength and conditioning, marketing, communications, it really doesn't matter who that is.

00:04:08

We're trying to build those relationships and foundations right now. And then off deck, it's like we kind of split it up. So, we have a staff of eight, soon to be a staff of nine. We can kind of divvy out some of those administrative responsibilities, whether it's travel, scheduling, recruiting visits, and making sure those are functioning like a fine-tuned machine or equipment.

00:04:34

There's so many pieces of it that you don't even think about until you're in it. You don't know what you don't know type of situation until you're living it. But I think the one thing I was really grateful for our time is you kind of just let me run with things.

00:04:49

I look back on it and I'm like, why didn't that let me do that? Like I had? No, no idea what I was doing. And I really took that approach. And when I was a head coach, hiring assistants, like hire good people and let them do good things.

00:05:04 

Like, give them some areas of their strengths. And yeah, when I hired Sean, it was like I need you to coach. I will take care of everything else and slowly give you some other stuff onto your plate. But, I don't even think our athletes know what we do every day. They'll walk in and be like, where are you? Or what are you doing?

00:05:23

I'm like, I've been over at this meeting or talking to this person, or, sorry, I'm trying to work out as well. Some days I don't think they even know what we do. 

00:05:34 – Matt

It's almost like a schoolteacher. When kids see their teacher outside of school, what are you doing out at the grocery store? They're not allowed to leave the school.

00:05:44 

And I think was one of the things I think maybe when I was hiring you because, at that point, I had been alone for a long time as far as head coach, right? Recently, we got the funding to add some assistance. And my feeling was always, I feel like I do an okay job at a lot of things, but I don't do an exceptional job at any one thing. 

00:06:07

Just given that the Marauder like, oh, my gosh, there's just so many things that are going on all the time, right? So, you're kind of all over, right? Then you just explained you kind of have your hands in everything. 

00:06:22

And I think you kind of mentioned it, and I think it was my thought when I was hiring coaches, it was everybody kind of had a swimming background or had this swimming knowledge, right? I mean, for you, you were a swimmer and an all-American at Purdue, so it was like, okay, well, you know, swimming.

00:06:38

You've been around the sport. So, for me, it was always exactly like, hire people who I feel like are going to be great people to add to your program, and the swimming stuff is going to take care of itself. But you're going to learn we can learn all those other things that have to go on, and we can teach things as you're going.

00:06:59

But if the people are the right people to be mentors towards your athletes, obviously that's what you're looking for. And then from my end, always, it was, let's be realistic. Like, we don't have to. I mean, everything's public knowledge if they want to look it up, if you're at a mid-major state institution, right? 

00:07:16

The salaries aren't exactly something to keep people around for a long time. So, part of it for me, right, was once I started getting assistant coaches was, OK well, we've got the athletes and we have to worry about this. 

00:07:29

But it was also how do we give the assistants the skills in the background for them to move on in two or three years. Because realistically, you're going to keep someone for two or three years with what we were paying.

00:07:40

But we always wanted to set people up as far as coaches, like, what's that next move going to be, and let them have those skills that came into play. I think a lot with that, too.

00:07:54 - Caitlin

I mean, I remember getting the call, like, that I was looking, and I had just sat down and told you, like I'm here. I'm ready. Let's do this again. And then I was like, oh, okay, I guess I'm heading onward now. And walking in there as an assistant.

00:08:08

And be like, yeah, I've run my own group. I've done like, I did the entire cycle. And they're like, you just stopped swimming two years ago. And I was like, I know, but here are all the things that Matt either taught me to do, had me do. I was very prepared to go into that interview, and I've done all of this, Put me wherever you need me.

00:08:30

Wherever you think my strengths are. Because I can at least have some hands-on knowledge of what we're doing and then I hired Sean, my assistant at Illinois State. In the middle of COVID. And so, he came in mid-year and we were just in this like scrambled mode of everything had been pushed into a spring season. 

00:08:48

We had 16 weeks to get a sprint group put together because we really didn't have one. And I was like, coach, I promise I will teach you everything else but like, right now, let's get you some like athletes buying into what you're doing.

00:09:03

You have autonomy in what you're doing like I know you know, swimming, you're coming off of a huge club background like coach, and then slowly it was like, okay, here's some recruiting, here's some travel, here's some meal prep, here's how you order equipment.

00:09:17

And when I left to take the job at Kentucky, he was ready to be the interim. There was no doubt in my mind he was the right man for that position because he had done it all. I mean, there were very few things that I didn't have his input or have him learn with me because I needed him to be ready to either walk into a Power 5 school and be like, I've done all of this.

00:09:39

Put me where you want me, or take over a program. So, I took a lot from you in that sense, and I always refer back. I probably wouldn't have stuck with coaching if I didn't have that sense of total autonomy in what I was doing because I was getting better buy-in from the athletes because I had a sense of ownership over what I thought was going to work, and then they could feel that too.

00:10:05 - Matt

Yeah, it's something, I think, for a lot of coaches, it's like you have these assistants or people working with you, and you kind of do have to train someone to take over for you, right, if need be, or things are going to change. Right. So, it's having someone ready to step into those roles or a role somewhere else is part of your job. Right. As a head coach.

00:10:24 - Caitlin

Absolutely. I mean, you're training your athletes like you're setting them up for success, for life. Like, again, like, swimming is such a small part of what we do. And if we're doing things right and we're in this for the right reason, we're developing people. 

00:10:37

And we're setting them up for life once they leave us. Like, let's get the degree you want to get. Let's be really proud of the decision that you made. Let's be, you know, learning life lessons along the way so that when you leave me, you can look back and be like, oh, yeah, I was ready to go or I've got this.

00:10:55

I know how to handle this. I've learned a lot in a very pivotal time of my life, from 18 to 22 and now I feel confident that I can go out into the world. Swimming is, like, obviously why we're in this, but it's such a small piece of why I've continued to do it for so long. 

00:11:13

It's all about the people and bringing in good people and staff or bringing in good athletes. I think if you surround yourself with that, like-minded, we're going for one common goal. We're continuing to try to be better like, I don't know everything. I will not sit here and claim to know everything.

00:11:31

I'm constantly trying to learn and that's been the cool part about coming to Kentucky as I'm surrounding myself with really creative individuals who are coaching for the right reason. And it's just been incredible, like the last three weeks, just how much I've been challenged to think outside my comfort zone in the box and it's refreshing.

00:11:54

It's been really cool to be at that point, ten years in, and like, oh, I've never thought about it that way, but I'm going to try. I'm going to definitely start too. It's been really awesome.

00:12:05 – Matt

So, you, you know, having moved to some different programs now and obviously just walking in at in Kentucky and having a completely new staff and you know, obviously having to get to know the team and you know you're gonna have things that you all wanna build. So as far as team values go or building that culture, how do you typically go about that?

00:12:28 - Caitlin

I think the really interesting thing that we've been going about now is relationships are one thing, but partnership is a whole other level. And I've been in awe of watching Bret have these individual meetings incorporate staff into those or women's team meetings, men's team meetings, combined team meetings.

00:12:47

And everything we're talking about is that partnership. He started by setting the foundation on the staff of finding people that are coaching for the right reason. And I've told recruits Brett's a people-first coach. He wants to know you, your story, your family, what motivates you, what excites you, what do you want to do after this. 

00:13:10

And I've sat in on so many meetings where we haven't talked about swimming at all, and I think that's a really good starting place for us, of like, we've gotta listen. Coming in and having a total change at this point in the year. Like I think I started the day before school started like, I mean, it was just wild.

00:13:29 

This year, our goal is to listen and to build that partnership and that level of trust and have this super strong foundation where communications at the the center of it that we can launch from. We're in a really good spot here like we've got talent, we've got passion, we've got a team that truly cares about each other like those things are, are taken care of.

00:13:52

And now we can come in and almost take them one step further. I think with this generation of athletes I've just noticed they almost need help like. Given tools to be successful like they want to be good they want to find the ways to get better, but it's like how what's the road map to get there?

00:14:15

So, we're doing some different things with our leaders doing some different things with our emerging leaders like finding ways to build in that confidence piece and themselves of. Like, not just the swimming side, but the day-to-day side, and having all of that translate back into the water. So, it's not an easy task and it's a multi-year.

00:14:35 

Like plan, it's not something we're going to do overnight, but if we do it the right way, it's going to take a while and it's going to pay off in such a big way for everybody involved, whether that's a senior looking back and be like, 

00:14:49

I remember when that change happened and how far we've come or somebody that's walking in as a freshman, that really doesn't know anything different. Those are the messaging that we're just going to be very consistent about with them all year.

00:15:04 - Matt

Yeah. And I like how you're saying how, you know, you're it starts with the coaching staff, right? And getting the coaches on the same page and understanding that delivering those consistent messages. All what's going to make that that difference in the long term with the greater team, right? 

00:15:20

Like if the coaches aren't on the same page or they're not delivering the same messages, it's hard to kind of have that trickle down in into the athletes. So I think that's fantastic. Obviously, to hear that, hey, you're having those meetings and you all are talking about it, you're establishing what you want.

00:15:35 

And then you can kind of let the athletes know that and then from a college standpoint, right, then it goes into, it's not just the team. Then you've got to recruit every year, more people to bring in. So as far as from the recruiting end, 

00:15:49

how do you then approach from the recruiting side of it to let those athletes know, you know, you kind of here, here's what we're about, here's what our values are. But then also to know what do you do to make sure that they're kind of fit, you know, for what you're looking for.

00:16:08 – Caitlin

Yeah, recruiting's tricky and it's tricky no matter where you're at, like whether you're it's a women's only program mid-major and you're trying to find the right fit there or you know, oh gosh, I was at IU, at the mecca of IU swimming.

00:16:23 

I mean, we were recruiting top-tier classes year after year after year. And I think my fundamental beliefs about recruiting has never changed. No matter what level I'm at. Whether it was, you know, being a GA at Wyoming and getting like four or five names that I was allowed to talk to or, you know, being a recruiting coordinator and completely in charge of like the future of the program.

00:16:47

I always start with building the relationship. Those first few calls, I want to get to know them as people because it's going to tell me a lot about how they handle situations. And our sport is hard. There's no denying that. 

00:17:03

Our sport is going to throw you a curveball, and it's going to be demanding, and it feels long at some points in times, and it's not going to go perfectly. There's not one single athlete out there that their career has been perfect.

00:17:17

And so, I want to really ask questions that are going to kind of stress how people are handling situations, whether it's like a relationship dynamic between their club teammates and their club coach, and kind of getting some insight into what that would look like in a combined college program.

00:17:38

We talk about everything. One of my favorite conversations, especially on the women's side, is like, junior year, so much happens. Proms are happening, homecomings. I want to talk about life. I want to hear what they're excited about, and I want to be able to chime into that and direct a conversation with them that they're leading.

00:18:02

Like for me, yes, I'm getting information, but I also want to provide a place to ask questions because I'm getting just as much information about the types of questions that are important to them as if I was the one like, here's my checklist, let's go through this. And I always tell them, I'm an avenue of support here.

00:18:21

I'm here to help you through this process. I'm not here to tell you how this process is supposed to look for you. If you're saying, I'm ready to commit a year from now, our recruiting process is going to look a little different, then you're like, I want to be committed by the end of the semester.

00:18:37

So, catering it a little bit just because everybody has different needs and when we're looking at a women's team in particular, we're always recruiting everything. Like I think when you start to pigeonhole yourself into, I've got a sprinter going out, I need a sprinter coming in.

00:18:55 

You're kind of losing the bigger picture of. Well, how then how are we developing that? How are we developing People like? I'm not always gonna get somebody who's going to come in the door and be 100% ready to go. They're very, very few athletes like that in any class. Everybody's got opportunities to grow. 

00:19:14

Everybody's got opportunities to get better and find things that we can partner with. And so, it's like kind of seeing this big picture and then molding it down. I love recruiting. It's my favorite part because you get to develop that relationship two years before they even step on campus with you. 

And if you do it the right way, I think you're getting just such a better quality of like togetherness once they get here as freshmen, they already feel like they are part of the family and things happen a lot faster. So, it's one of my favorite parts of the job.

00:19:49

It can be hard when you're navigating a new dynamic of who we want. Where are we targeting, what's worked, what hasn't worked? Like, you know what areas of the country, really like Kentucky and being at the northern part of the SEC, where is our focus? We're kind of sussing that all out right now, but it's seriously one of my favorite parts.

00:20:10 - Matt

Yeah. So, there's like the there's the recruiting, the recruiting strategy part of it, right, where it's like all those. And then it's OK. Well, now we've got to execute, but executing means we still have to find the right athletes. So yeah, yeah, it is definitely.

00:20:24 

It is definitely a process and I agree. You know, there was years right where you're like, hey, this is what we want to do. This is how we want to approach it. But the kids have to be there too. So you know, you're always pivoting, right? 

00:20:36

But I do love it that there's those key fundamental things that you're looking for, that those things are never going to change. So that sets your program up to be successful long term. So, speaking of, so you're, you know, we're talking about recruiting and that, you know, we're talking about recruiting specific athletes, but you know, you're someone who's obviously spent a lot of time visiting clubs or high school programs. 

00:21:01

What are some things that you've kind of taken away from, you know, some of the clubs or high school programs that are? Having success, but also you know, producing athletes that are going on to college and have success. So, what are some of the things that are maybe similarities that you see?

00:21:17 

As far as what those teams are doing in terms of what they're valuing, you know how they're producing, you know, not just good swimmers, but good people that then are now appealing to bring into your college program.

00:21:29 – Caitlin

For sure, some of the best clubs out there are again looking at that bigger picture and that's going all the way down to their learn to swim. I've been really impressed with a handful where, like either they have a great feeder program from lessons.

00:21:44 

Or they have their own learn to swim and they are teaching the fundamentals and teaching the skills like in a very critical full lifespan type of way where they're not taxing athletes too early or they're not trying. I mean, I've also seen clubs on the other sense of like, have we talked about technique at all? 

00:22:07

And you can almost see the ones with the big picture and how their athletes are transitioning from a lesson learned to swim into those first couple of years of a true swim team type of setup into more. Of a like. Okay, well, now we're starting to get a little good, and we're maybe starting to focus in on swimming a little bit more, but finding ways to also provide opportunity for development outside the water.

00:22:37

That's a piece that probably is stemming more from my biomechanical like education background is like, I want them to know how to move like, I want them to know how to move. I want them to know how to move on the water, out of the water, in the water.

00:22:49

Like I want them to have a really good sense of body and that kind of also needs to allow for some space to do some other sports. And it be OK. And then there's going to be a time where they can specialize, and that's also like, OK, so we're in high school, we're starting to add in a little bit more of, you know, maybe of that specialty.

00:23:10 

Like event or we're starting to lift a little bit or we're just finding, you know, a progressive way to do that so that when I walk in and they're 15, 16, 17 years old, I'm like, oh. There's development there, I can see all the tools in the foundations, but I know what I can then take.

00:23:29 

And some athletes, that's more of a natural thing, some things you can see it from a club side where they have actually truly like broken it all the way down. I think in recruiting we always ask about like their club team and the dynamic and the ones that are doing it well are the ones that are creating that sense of like love and passion for the sport, like at the end of the day, it is a sport.

00:23:51 

And it should be fun and I'm guilty of, like, not always providing that and getting wrapped up in like, Oh my gosh, we're in season or championships are coming up or like we've got to perform. So at the end of the job day, my job is to help them perform.

00:24:07 

But it's supposed to be fun, and there's supposed to be moments where they're, like, enjoying the people that they're around. They're enjoying that environment, it keeps pulling them back in and wanting more. And it’s like.

00:24:18 

It’s ok, sometimes to think about that like Summer Rec League 6 and under and like how they fell in love with the sport and finding ways to bring in some of that joy because again, the seasons really never end. The sport can be very time-demanding and grueling. 

00:24:37

And the people that stay with it and the people that continue to find success in college are the ones that are like. I love swimming and here are all the reasons why I love swimming and nine times out of 10, it's the relationship piece. It's their teammates, it's how it makes them feel. It's having opportunities to find ways to, like, get better for them.

00:24:56 

And I think like now it's like. There is so many things that we can do here and teach. That we can find ways to get them better and find, like, areas that they thrive in and maybe areas that we need to have some more growth mentality. But though I can't change the love piece like unless I'm providing opportunities for them to be reminded of that.

00:25:19 - Matt

Yeah. Yeah, it's you know, it's almost like I got to the point where I would. As I'm doing my season planning on a calendar, even write out some fun stuff, you know, like few months in advance where cause it was like I agree you hit those stretches where it's October. We gotta get ready for this meet November.

00:25:40 

It's, you know, it's January, you know, championship seasons right around the corner. But right, you're like, OK, but at the meantime, the athletes like, yeah, they've been working really hard. Their brains were fried. You know from school and swimming. And you're like, oh, yeah. Remember to put something fun in there every once in a while.

00:25:53 

Because I mean. Again, like being realistic, there was mornings where you walked onto the pool deck as a coach and you're trying to drag yourself in and go. OK, I gotta get a little energy here, you know. They're gonna be tired. You know, I'm exhausted. So, what do they feel like right?

00:26:08 – Caitlin

I know. And I think the other side of that too is like I as a coach, I've learned that me showing them. I love swimming like I'm such a swim nerd. I love swimming. I wouldn't be here without it. But it's not my life. Like it's not the entirety of my life.

00:26:28 

And I really think it's important for your athletes to see that like and it almost gives them permission to have an identity outside of the sport and my personal career ended with injury and it was just like a whole identity crisis for probably a year and a half.

00:26:46

But I also took that away of like, OK, well, I don't ever want them to feel like it's the only part of them. Like, there's so much to them. They're like, everybody's got a dynamic personality and other things that we're good at. Well, how do we find that if it's just like the only thing I seem to care about and I spend the most time in a week with them is swimming?

00:27:08 

Like so, it's almost finding some ways to have like that dynamic partnership with them starting at the club level of like, yes, they see you as a mentor and they see you as a very important part of their life. 

00:27:20

But it's almost remembering like this isn't the only aspect of their life like they have a lot going on and they have a lot of things that they're passionate about. And yes, swimming gets to be a big part of that instead of the only part of that.

00:27:33 - Matt

That's a great point and I think it took me a while to realize that too where it was opening up more about, you know, my own family travel idea. You know something that was completely different from swimming that, you know, realizing that they were super interested in that. Right. 

00:27:51

And that and opened up the door to have other conversations or things that maybe that they're interested in. So, I think that is a that's a great point. Because you hear a lot of that, and I think a lot of that lately right about swimmers.

00:28:04 

And it is a. It's a mental, you know, we know the physical toll, but we know that there's, you know, more and more saying that there is a mental toll on this as well. So, I think that's. Yeah, that's great kind of great point.

00:28:15 – Caitlin 

And it helped. I married a non-swimmer like so far out of the swimmer world like he's learning. Bless him, he's learning, but I think that also like when he comes around or he's around with our dogs or whatever. Like, he doesn't even know what to ask about swimming. 

00:28:32

So he's like, let's ask about anything else. Like, I'll talk about whatever else you want to talk about cause I cannot keep up with the swimming conversation. But I remember like your kids were little when I was around and. There would be mornings where you're like Caitlin, you're taking it like life happens and it's OK for life to happen. 

00:28:54

And I think having a team see that is so valuable and how you react in that moment is so valuable, like because their life is going to happen like there's going to be things where they call you and they're like, hey, this is going on and it's gonna be OK take care of it. Like, it's OK. It's OK for that to be what's going on right now.

00:29:14 - Matt

I remember freaking out a couple of athletes, you know, back when I was when I was coaching, where you could see him, you see him walk in the door and you see what type of day they're having and you're like, alright, they're struggling today, you know, they're not here.

00:29:27 

And the simple conversation, hey, what's going on? And this is coming up. I've got this project or this exam. I'm really stressed. I need to study. And I distinctly remember multiple times saying, okay, is it a better situation for you to be here and get a little exercise in today and take a mental break?

00:29:46

Or do you need to really just kind of go off and handle this right now and utilize this next couple of hours to prepare yourself or maybe for that exam that you have later tonight? And you're kind of getting that look of like, I can't mispractice. And it's like, no, you can. 

00:30:04

These 2 hours in October are not going to have it's not going to be this massive effect on the end of the year. Because if you're mentally not able to do this today, then we need to find something for you to be productive and get in the right mental state. But sometimes that is it's. Hey, just get in the water and go up and down the pool, because sometimes they need that break.

00:30:28 - Caitlin

Sometimes it's like you have 50% to give me give me the 50%. That's better than you giving me nothing. And I think that is also a really hard thing for people to wrap their head around of like oh like it the permission of it is, can be if it hasn't ever happened before, it can be a little overwhelming it's like, no, it's OK.

00:30:49 - Matt

But that comes back to knowing your athletes and having a culture. Hey, we're here to develop you as a person, and the swimming is part of it. And again, you're right. There's going to be stretches where it's like, hey, we gotta get down. We gotta work hard. 

00:31:02

And I think all the swimmers realize that by now right by the time they get to you, they've kind of been through this and understand that. So yeah.

00:31:11 - Caitlin

That is the benefit of like getting them at this level of like they've been around club, they've been around high school swimming, they've kind of like I think club teaches some really good things. I think high school swimming teaches some really good things of preparing them for the dynamic of a college program.

00:31:28

And by the time they get to me the swimming is not ever what takes the adjustment period like usually that's the first thing freshmen pick up. It's everything else. It's all of like, I like to say, like your freshman year is constant change.

00:31:43

And swimming will be the consistent piece like every, as soon as you think you figured it out, something will change on you, whether it's classes, semester to semester, or just scheduling or I mean.

00:31:54

If you can get through your freshman year learning how to roll and adapt and accept some of those changes, the rest of your college career is going to be a sailing, like smooth sailing.

00:32:05 - Matt

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, so. Well, I know you're busy. You're going back and forth between, you know, moving and starting a new position, and obviously, you guys have a lot going on there at Kentucky. So I appreciate you joining me today. 

00:32:20

I think this was, this was fantastic and it was good for us to catch up personally. Which is always fun. So I hope people can take something from this. Whether you're running a club program, a high school program, and just kind of understand. 

00:32:34

You know, how you're treating your athletes, the culture that you're building, it does affect them down the road, right? It's not just when they're when they're in your program.

00:32:42 

So I hope somebody you know, no matter what your situation is, took something away from this. If you're looking for more information, you can find it at yoursportsresource.com. If you want to reach out to us via e-mail, it's info@yoursportsresource.com. Thanks for joining us today.

00:33:03 – Caitlin

Thanks, Matt.